Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

Jan 24 2025

The Lord Bless You and Keep You

When I was little, I worried about the sheep. The angels sang “Glory to God in the highest” and the sky burst with light. I loved the story of the shepherds. But I worried about their sheep. In the picture in my children’s Bible, they looked like white dots scattered on the hillside. I saw no fences with barbed wire. In the next picture, when the shepherds knelt by baby Jesus in the manger, they were not there. Had the sheep wandered every which way and gotten lost? Did they fall off a cliff? I looked at the pictures a long time. Would they be okay?

In my adult life, I have learned that ancient shepherds used shrubbery to make a fold called a keep, a hedge with thorns to guard and preserve and keep their animals. The sheep were enfolded, kept secure. Yes, they would be okay.

The author of Numbers uses that same Hebrew verb “to keep” in the blessing of Aaron: “The Lord bless you and keep you.” He is asking the Lord to protect, to preserve, to hedge us in, to make us safe. When the Lord “shines his face upon us,” we are beloved sheep. We are enfolded, kept secure from all harm.

Mary also “kept” all these things in her heart. In the Greek, that verb has a similar sheltering feel—to keep close together and to preserve from all harm. As the shepherds departed from her, her face shone upon her newborn beloved and she treasured these thoughts; she built a hedge around all that was said about him to shelter him in her heart.

Maybe we still worry in our grown-up way, will those we love wander and get lost? Will we ourselves be okay? Lord, bless us and keep us!

Consider/Discuss

Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe involves a powerful sense of the Virgin Mary’s protection, asking her to wrap her cloak or mantle around us. What joy and security do you feel when you are enfolded by love?
The shepherds in Jesus’ day were not cute little children dressed up in robes carrying stuffed animals. They were characters outside the margins of society, not necessarily the most desirable of guests. Yet the Gospel of Luke places them on the inside, at the heart of the Christmas story. As you make your New Year’s resolutions this day, who are the shepherds in your life? How could you enfold them into your life more intentionally in this upcoming year?

Living and Praying with the Word

Shepherd of souls, the thorns that surrounded your head have become the source of our safety. Wandering and scattered, we sometimes feel lost. We pray for those we love who also feel lost. Wrap your arms around them and do not let any harm befall them. Also protect those whom we do not love as we ought. We may all just be little white dots on a hillside, but we are also all your beloved sheep. In this New Year, whatever comes, be our shelter, keep us safe.

Jan 24 2025

The Ancient Promise Is Fulfilled

Look at me. The skin on my hands is so thin that I can see my veins and my bones. My feet shuffle so slowly that everyone rushes past me in the street. The ache in my back never stops. Isn’t it enough already, you who have been our hope for ages past? Long ago, you said that you would not take me to you until I had seen your Messiah. I felt then that it was a wonderful promise. But extreme old age is a burden heavy to bear. All that I love is gone. I have waited so long.

What’s that? This is the day? Go to the temple?

Look at her. Her cheeks are fresh, gleaming with joy, as she holds that boy. She is young. Yet a sword will pierce her heart. The babe is light in her arms. She doesn’t know how heavy it will be to hold a lifeless child. The man stands behind her, a holy family. She doesn’t know the hole left in your heart when your spouse dies. O Lord, I have seen too much. The heaviness of earth weighs me down.

What’s that, you say? This is the One? The child?

Look at him. His tiny head nestles in the crook of my arm. His eyes briefly open. His eyelids flicker as he looks into my eyes. This, this is the one who will set your people free? Joy rises within me. We your people have waited so long. This baby so small will be our hope for years to come? My ribcage swells in jubilation. My aches are gone. I feel like dancing!

Now, Master, please, set me free. Let me come to you in peace. You have fulfilled your promise! Bless you, bless you, my God!

Consider/Discuss

God works miracles through the very old. Abraham and Sarah, Simeon and Anna—they were faithful for so many years. The Lord’s promises to them were fulfilled. How have you seen the beauty of God through eyes of those who have lived long?
God works miracles through the very young. The Holy Family is a sign of promise for years to come. How have you seen the beauty of God through the lives of those who are very young?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of the heavens, you asked Abram to count the stars, to trust you for descendants. You asked Simeon to trust that the Savior of the world would come. You ask us to trust that you do fulfill your promises. You came to us within a human family. So this day, we entrust our families and all those we love to you to hold and keep safe. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us!

Jan 24 2025

Jesus, the Light of the World

In the time of Isaiah, messengers carried their proclamations from one post to another on foot. The messenger in this passage brings “glad tidings,” which will be rendered a couple of centuries later in the Greek translation of Isaiah as euangelion. The “good news” is that the Exile has come to an end and the sovereign God who defeats all enemies intends to bring salvation and restore the people. The watchmen in Jerusalem see not only the messenger but also the salvation itself, very likely a reference to returning Israelites heading toward the city. Such is the power and goodness of Israel’s God that all nations will see and admire it.

The Letter to the Hebrews focuses on the unique accomplishment of Jesus Christ. Because he is not only God’s Son and heir, but especially “the very imprint of his being,” Jesus has revealed God more clearly and fully than had the earlier prophets. Whereas in the past God had provided for the broken human condition by legislating repeated purification from sin, now God has provided a fuller and final purification through a great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14–5:10; 7:1–8:6). Finally, as God’s Son and heir, Jesus reigns with God in heaven. As God’s equal, he is therefore also worthy of the worship of all creation.

The beginning of John’s Gospel emphasizes two themes. The first has to do with the person of Jesus as the “true light . . . coming into the world.” As he comes into the world, Jesus, as God’s Word, brings with him the very presence of God: life and light, grace and truth. In other words, as God coming to dwell among us, Jesus brings every good thing that God has to offer the human race, and to creation as a whole. The second theme is the rejection by the world of its very source and life. When the Word comes into the world, the world the Word created, it either cannot or will not recognize him, or at least some in the world have not recognized him. These two themes of presence and rejection will develop throughout the Gospel.

Jan 24 2025

Nothing Is Impossible for God!

If you surveyed the people in Henry Ford’s day about what they hoped for in transportation, they would have said, “Breed a faster horse.” If you surveyed the Jews before the time of Jesus about what they wanted in a Messiah, they would have said, “A powerful king to drive out the Romans.”

Yet the future doesn’t always arise directly from the paths of the past. The Ruler of the universe seems to delight in making sudden turns, knocking human expectations sideways. The shepherd boy David is the smallest among his tall and handsome brothers, yet he is the one whose house is to last forever. An obscure girl in the hillbilly region of Galilee says yes to God, and a baby as tiny as a pinhead grows in her womb as the Savior of the world. How can this be?

The angel Gabriel says, “Nothing will be impossible for God.” Hear that again: Nothing will be impossible for God. Nothing. What if you and I gave our total yes to that statement? What if that conviction sank into our core? “Nothing is impossible for God!” There would be no region of our existence that the grace of Christ could not redeem. We would not limp through life with limited expectations. We would never stop seeking for the surprises of the Spirit. If nothing were impossible for God, we would never give up! We would not lose hope in people or institutions. We would never give up on ourselves or our circumstances. Even when things got hard, we would not quit. We would march forth with courage, believing that nothing is impossible for God.

As Christmas preparations intensify, can we do that? Holy Spirit, make sure our conviction that nothing, nothing, nothing is impossible for God!

Consider/Discuss

Is there someone whom you feel like giving up on? Circumstances that cause you to feel despair? What institutions feel hopeless? If nothing is impossible for God, how might you flip that perception around to see it in a new way?
When has the Spirit done the unexpected in the history of your life? What difference did that make? Share that story of God’s unexpected grace with someone this Christmas.

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, you are the source of courage. The early Christians trained for martyrdom by repeating, “Nothing is impossible for God!” In these few days left before Christmas, strengthen us for all that we have to do, holding fast to that belief in the miraculous. The Son is coming. All will be well. Glory to God in the Highest!

Jan 24 2025

A No Can Open Up to a Yes from God

In today’s Gospel, the Baptizer shakes his head and says no to his questioners: No, I am not the light; I am not the Christ; I am not Elijah; I am not the Prophet. No, no, and no.

We often hear about Mary’s yes and how we should imitate her. What about John the Baptist’s no? Should we imitate his no too? What if the man crying out in the desert had answered yes? What if he had taken the praises he received as his due, puffed out his camel hair–covered chest and said, “Yes, I am Elijah. I am good. I am the Prophet. Look at me!” He could have. But he would have lost his way.

I was pondering that no a few days ago as I walked to my office. I was treading one of the numerous sidewalks on the Notre Dame campus, the one that leads from my car to the theology building. Directly in front of me was one clear line where the concrete sections came together. I put my left foot on that crack and tried to walk straight and stay straight. I imagined, “Hmmm . . . so this one is my line, my path.” If I turn aside from that line, through envy or the distraction of wishing that I were on someone else’s route, I could lose my way and miss what I was created to do.

John the Baptist stuck to his path. He was as at home with who he was not. His clear no opened the space for the grander yes of his particular mission: he readied the world for Jesus.

We can imitate that no to what we are not. You and I are unique children of God, each with a unique mission. We too can ready the world for Jesus.

Consider/Discuss

Who are you? Who are you not? To what identity does God ask you to say no? How can you and I lose our way, wishing we were someone else?
Where are the small ways we say no in our lives? Saying no to that slice of double-chocolate cake may open the space for a slimmer figure. Telling ourselves no to that extra fifteen minutes of sleep after the alarm rings opens space for a healthier breakfast and a more relaxed preparation for work. How can no open the space for God’s vision for us of a bigger and grander yes?

Living and Praying with the Word

Savior of the World, here we are. As we are. You have anointed us to bring glad tidings to this world. Give us the courage to imitate John the Baptist’s no. Strengthen us, so that we are people of honesty, clarity, and valor, willing to say no to anything that does not further your glory. For you are coming soon. We rejoice heartily that you want to use our unique gifts and talents to help to prepare this world for your coming. Come, Lord Jesus, our Emmanuel!